Another Dear Richard Letter

I've been rather depressed over the fact that Dawkins has maintained his silence on his dismissal of Rebecca Watson's concerns over how women are treated as sex toys within the atheist community (post #75). After yesterday's release of this truly horrific report, I emailed him as polite a letter as I could manage.

Dear Professor Dawkins,

Do you understand now why your dismissive words were so deeply hurtful to so many women...and not just on this side of the Pond?

“Nearly 20% of women in the US are raped or suffer attempted rape at some point in their lives, a US study says. Even more women, estimated at 25%, have been attacked by a partner or husband, the Centers for Disease Control said.”

You are a scientist. If you do not fully understand the issue, it is your responsibility to research the topic before weighing in with an opinion, especially with such a dismissive opinion that led women to understand that you had no regard for our presence within the atheist community. It is not our responsibility to spoon-feed you an answer. It was not our responsibility to lay bare the violence done to us or our pain, but we did - only to have you completely ignore those of us who shared our concerns with you.

Your silence on this is appalling. To many of us, it signifies one of two things: a continued lack of concern, or a complete refusal to admit error. I suppose there’s always the option that you think we deserve what happens to us, but I sincerely hope you’re not that type of human being.

Regards.

I hope that Dawkins reads this report. I hope that Dawkins begins to learn of the issues facing women regardless of with whom we associate. And I sincerely hope that Dawkins is enough of a decent human being to admit he did not fully understand how women must view a world where men inflict such staggering amounts of sexual violence upon them.

Words Matter. Pay Attention to What They Mean.

I've been reading up on this case.

The more I read about it, the more pissed off I get.

Words matter. When someone uses positive words that people have been trained to respond positively to since birth, it matters. When the media uses the word "honour" - even though it's in quotation marks - in relation to a barbaric multiple homicide, our subconscious minds try to find something humanising in the accused. Our empathy strives to find some way to excuse some of the accused's atrocity based on the fact that if honour is involved, then the accused had some sort of worthy higher purpose in mind when he or she took the life of another human being.

In this case, four human beings died. Four women - three of whom were just teens.

Four women died because they dared to have their own hopes and dreams for their lives, and they didn't allow others to dictate how they should live.

We can't blame the country this time - this happened in Canada, and the Canadian press should know better. They should know better than to allow criminals to dictate how a crime is perceived. They should know better than to provide any hint that they sympathise with femicide.

Why would you give any hint of legitimacy to such a barbaric act? Especially one based on a misogynist religious and tribal belief that women are lesser beings and violence against them is justified if they refuse to submit?

Stop calling femicide 'honour' killings. There is NOTHING honourable in these crimes, so call it what it is: murder.

And stop allowing religion to dictate how women are treated and viewed by the public.

Haley Barbour Is a Misogynist Jerk

"Well...first I'm for it. Then I was against it. Now I'm for it again!"

Haley Barbour says "Fuck you" to every woman in Mississippi

Mississippi voters go to the polls on November 8th to vote on Initiative 26, a constitutional amendment designed to strip women of rights over their own bodies and to endanger their safety and lives should they ever have the misfortune to become pregnant...which, because this bill would restrict ALL female-controlled birth control options (the Pill, IUDs, etc.), would happen a fuck of a lot more frequently.

"Though the text of the amendment is simple, the implications if it passes couldn't be more complex. If approved by Mississippi voters on Tuesday, it would make it impossible to get an abortion and hamper the ability to get some forms of birth control."

This is the latest example in a string of woman-hating legislation coming from the 'conservative' party. They cry, piss and moan about how we neeeeeeeed small government, and how we can't get the economy moving again until we gut the government...but they spend all of their time passing laws legislating what women can do with their bodies.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?!?!!

We have rampant unemployment, the economy has been struggling for YEARS, and you fucking well think that hurting women is the absolute most important thing that a "Christian" can do once in office?

Thank you for so clearly demonstrating why we need to end organized religion. This is so far off the deep end into psychotic that psychiatrists haven't developed a name for it yet.